The invention relates to the general field of missiles, and in particular to long-range missiles such as cruise missiles.
Cruise missiles, such as the TOMAHAWK cruise missile manufactured by Raytheon Company, have long been in use for attacking targets from a long range. The increased employment of cruise missiles has resulted in their being used to attack a wider variety of targets. This has resulted in the production of different types of missiles and/or missile payloads, configured to attack different types of targets. This has been done since different targets require different payloads and methods of attack, for example, to achieve hard deeply buried target penetration or destruction of soft above ground targets. The different types of missiles and/or payloads required to defeat the wide variety of targets increases the need for obtaining and keeping in inventory a large number of missiles and/or payloads.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that multi-mission payload improvements with regard to such missiles and/or payloads would be desirable. This would result in enhanced missile lethality, greater mission flexibility and reduced inventory of specialized missiles and/or payloads.